CNN "top story" this evening:
Title: Diplomats angry at forced Iraq postings
Summary: Several hundred U.S. diplomats expressed resentment Wednesday over a new State Department policy that could force them to serve in Iraq or risk losing their jobs. One veteran staffer told bosses: "[It] is a potential death sentence and you know it. Who will raise our children if we are dead or wounded?"
Of course, as usual, CNN misses the most important point of this story: the culture of diplomats is such that most of them clearly believe that they are better than the average enlisted person in the armed services.
Most public servants do lip service to the 'public servant' part, but are clearly focused on their personal situation (e.g., your average elected official), and use the 'good of all' reasoning only when it suits them. What the average enlisted person accepts as a part of their responsibility, the average diplomat views as a hardship of the utmost extreme, where they will fight to make sure they serve their own interests instead of the public's.
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